NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind accepted the resignations of 12 Union ministers, including Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar and Harsh Vardhan, with immediate effect, according to an official statement on Wednesday.
These resignations came ahead of a major expansion and reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers later in the day. In all, six Cabinet Ministers, one Minister of State (Independent Charge) and five Ministers of State have resigned.
Those resigned include Cabinet Ministers DV Sadananda Gowda (Chemical and Fertilizers), Ravi Shankar Prasad (Law and Justice, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology), Thaawarchand Gehlot (Social Justice and Empowerment), Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' (Education), Harsh Vardhan (Health and Family Welfare) and Prakash Javadekar (Environment, Forest and Climate Change).
The resignation of Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Labour and Employment, has also been accepted by the president.
Five Ministers of State -- Babul Supriyo (Environment, Forest and Climate Change), Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao (Education), Rattan Lal Kataria (Jal Shakti), Pratap Chandra Sarangi (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) and Debasree Chaudhuri (Women and Child Development) -- have also resigned.
The President, as advised by the Prime Minister, has accepted the resignations of these ministers from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect, the statement said.